The house fly, Musca domestica Linnaeus, is a well-known pest of both farms and homes. This species is normally found in association with humans or activities of humans, and is the most common species found on cattle, hog and poultry farms, horse stables, and ranches. In addition to being a nuisance, flies can transport disease-causing microorganisms. Moreover, excessive fly populations are obnoxious to farm workers.
Flies develop and congregate in large numbers in livestock areas, such as poultry manure under caged hens. This is a serious problem requiring control. The control of Musca domestica is vital to human health and comfort in many areas of the world. The insect is an annoyance and can transmit various pathogens that can be harmful to humans and animals.
Various methods have been developed to control flies, including insecticidal sprays, traps, insecticidal baits, larvicides, and combinations thereof to directly or indirectly suppress adult fly densities. Common measures to directly control adult flies include the use of traps or insecticidal baits, which employ attractants to draw flies from a distance to a point source where they are trapped or ingest a toxicant. Fly traps may be useful in some fly control programs if enough traps are used, and if they are placed correctly. Insecticidal baits provide a more convenient means of fly control because they do not require a discrete physical device to be handled, and the amount applied may be easily scaled to the intended area of control. Insecticidal baits typically combine a toxicant (insecticide), an attractant, and a feeding adjuvant such as sugar.
Although such baits are known in the art, there exists a need for better and more efficacious fly baits. The current invention satisfies this and other needs.